 Re: Correct expression
"...where they are" is correct here.
This is a very nasty trap. Usually, when we ask a question in English, the word order is as follows:
1. Question word
2. Helping verb
3. Subject
4. Main verb
In this case, there is no main verb, only a helping verb, so you'd expect "where are they?" to be correct -- it's a question, right?
Not quite: the question is "Do you know X?". There's no question word here, but the word order helping verb, subject, main verb is followed. The rest -- "where they are" -- is the object of "know", so it is not actually a question: it's a thing.
This was obviously a trick question: you were supposed to think: "Ooh, it's a question, there's a question mark to prove it!" Yes, but the question is in the main clause "Do you know...?", not the subordinate clause which acts almost like a noun here. |